Tottenham Hotspur defender Juan Foyth is currently on the sidelines with an injury.

Sky Sports pundit Danny Mills has claimed that Juan Foyth’s ‘not ready’ to play on a regular basis for Tottenham, whether it be in the Premier League or the Champions League.

The former defender also claimed that Foyth’s ‘not incredibly outstanding’ and ‘not like’ Juventus centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, who is a year younger, 20, than the Spurs man and regarded as one of the best young defenders in the world.

Foyth, who has been utilised as a centre-back and right-back by Mauricio Pochettino since the turn of the year, is currently on the sidelines with an injury.

Speaking to Football Centre on Sky Sports News (18/09/2019 11:40 pm), Mills believes Foyth still has a long way to go until he can become a key member of Tottenham’s backline.

“I have seen him a few times,” Mills told Sky Sports News. “He’s not ready yet, I don’t think to go into the Premier League or Champions League, week in and week out.

“He’s still a novice in that central defensive area. He’s not incredibly outstanding, week in and week out. He’s not like a De Ligt, where we go, ‘yes, he can play at any level’. He [Foyth] still needs to learn his trade and learn the game.

“And learn from the likes of Vertonghen and Alderweireld. Learn little bits of pieces in training, what they do, the positional sense, all of those kinds of things. At the moment, he’s still potential.”

Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen are not getting any younger, and if one or even both were to depart in the next 12 months then it wouldn’t be a surprise.

Either way, Spurs need Foyth and centre-back Davinson Sanchez to be able to claim that they can be a long-term member of Pochettino’s defence.

On a number of occasions, the young duo have shown glimpses of what they can achieve, as they have no better players to learn from than Alderweireld and Vertonghen, who are one of the best pairings in world football.